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SANTIAGO - Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is undergoing a "revision" of earlier heart surgery, but is not having a new operation, as had been reported, a spokesman for Pinochet said today.
"This is not a second heart operation. It is a revision of the procedures carried out in the morning," spokesman Guillermo Garin told Reuters.
"It's nothing like a bypass."
It was unclear what exactly the revision involved.
The 91-year-old general was rushed to hospital in the middle of the night and even received the last rites before the operation, which appeared to have stabilised him.
"My grandfather is now out of danger, but his condition is very serious," one relative, Felipe Pinochet, told reporters outside the hospital.
His son, Marco Antonio Pinochet, added: "We're in the hands of God and the doctors."
Medical staff said the general was conscious and receiving visitors. A small band of supporters gathered outside the hospital holding up photographs and a small bronze bust of their hero.
Even if Mr Pinochet recovers, this latest health setback makes it more unlikely than ever that he will stand trial for the human rights abuses perpetrated during the 1973 military coup that brought him to power and the 17 years in which he held power thereafter.
A Chilean government commission has determined that more than 3,000 people were killed or "disappeared" during his regime, and another 28,000 were subjected to imprisonment and torture for political reasons.
As recently as the end of last month, Mr Pinochet was placed under house arrest and accused of kidnapping and murdering two bodyguards who worked for Salvador Allende, the leftist president he overthrew.
The bodyguards were arrested during the September 1973 coup and executed by firing squad a month later.
Every time the general has faced new charges, or had his parliamentary immunity lifted, his lawyers have successfully argued that he was not fit enough, either mentally or physically, to stand trial.
Perhaps the most delicate moment of all came when he was placed under house arrest in London in 1998 and forced to stay in Britain pending a decision on his status.
It was Jack Straw, then the Foreign Secretary, who decided to release him after more than a year and allow him to return home to the Santiago suburbs.
Mr Pinochet has had problems with his heart before, and many years ago was fitted with a pacemaker.
He has also complained of diabetes and arthritis.
A series of small strokes led to one diagnosis of mild dementia.
Human rights lawyers have frequently complained that his health appears to deteriorate every time he faces the prospect of criminal prosecution.
Mr Pinochet marked his 91st birthday on November 25 with a statement taking an unprecedented degree of responsibility for the human rights abuses that occurred on his watch.
He remained, however, entirely unapologetic.
"Today, near the end of my days," he wrote.
"I want to say that I harbour no rancour against anybody, that I love my fatherland above all and that I take political responsibility for everything that was done which had no other goal than making Chile greater and avoiding its disintegration."
The question of how to handle General Pinochet has deeply divided his fellow countrymen, and his supporters and detractors around the world, ever since the return to civilian rule.
The election of Ricardo Lagos, the first left-wing president since Pinochet, in 2000 greatly increased the legal pressure on the general - at one point, he was ordered to report to the police and have mug shots taken.
The country's highest courts have, however, always ultimately ruled against putting him on trial.
Supporters say he saved his country from communism and enacted economic reforms that greatly enhanced Chile's prosperity.
Even they, however, had reason to pause after it emerged in 2004 that he had stashed away $27 million in secret off-shore bank accounts during his years in office.
One outstanding charge against him is for violation of Chile's tax code.
- INDEPENDENT
